Here's a non-story: Toyota sold more midsize sedans than any other automaker in July. The race for second and third place is where the midsize sales race gets much more interesting. With the Toyota Camry solidly in first, the Honda Accord and Nissan Altima fought to regain their second and third place spots on the chart.

Toyota sold 29,913 Camrys in July, bringing its year-to-date total to a commanding 243,816. In June there was a bit of an upset when the Chevrolet Malibu earned the number-two slot in midsize sedan sales. For July, the Honda Accord regained its number-two slot with 28,639 vehicles sold, bringing its year-to-date total to 183,817. The Nissan Altima earned the bronze medal, with 26,602 vehicles sold in July, for a year-to-date total of 183,703.Off the podium in fourth place was the Ford Fusion, with 23,326 sold – despite the fact an all-new model will hit dealers soon. Fifth and sixth place went to the Koreans; Hyundai sold 20,978 Sonatas last month while Kia sold 13,317 Optimas over the same period. Last month's runner-up, the Chevy Malibu, only managed seventh place, with 12,345 vehicles sold.

Seems like Honda is preparing for a good start for the new Accord...However in Toyota's defense, nothing can match 5.8 sec. 0-60 with one of the lower output 3.5L V6's without requiring premium fuel like the Passat.
Ford is obviously slowing production of the Fusion and finishing off remaining units. For those of you that will know, Ford and GM effectively sold all their fleet models earlier in the year. That is why it seems like the Malibu sales took a nosedive. That is why the Fusion appears to lag behind the Altima in July. Things will start to heat up 4th quarter 2012; 1st Quarter 2013, with the full release of Fusion, Accord, 2.5L/2.0T Malibu and Mazda 6.

The Volkswagen Passat is such a great car. I have been a Volkswagen owner for 10 years now, and I must say they were all very reliable cars. The best part had to be the amazing ride quality and the fun handling. I love my Passat!

Although VW wants to move more cars I'm under the impression that the lack of quality image that VW has isn't helping!!...They should throw in a 3 year maintenance free plan and extend their warranty back to 4 years!.....the way things are I don't see VW being a major player in the US market - ever!

The Corolla rattled at 90000 miles? My Rental Cruz caught on Fire. I was so shocked. Good thing i didnt have to pay for damages. FUNK YOU CHEVY. YOU CAUSED ME A MINI HEART ATTACK. I also rented a Chevy Impala. That thing is slow and heavy. Rough ride and noisy.

Obviously Malibu had a tough July. But I was wondering WHY? What is Chevy's excuse (s) / Auto Analysts reason (s) for the poor sales numbers? Usually if a car takes a 50% dive in sales, you'd write why that was...
Christian Seabaugh, can you respond?

I don't know anout taking the market completely over, but the Sonata finished the month with just a 19 day supply which is woefully low.
Add sales of the Optima and the combo outsold the Camry for the 2nd month.
Hyundai will be able to eek out another 20k worth of production later in the year, so with the new Altima, Accord, Fusion, etc. - the segment will get tighter and tighter (I can see the new Accord claiming the sales crown for the segment, esp. if one factors out fleet sales).

As said over and over again, (and not to argue your point) but people in these segments just dont really think about the new models being out and such, the fusion will probably sell less in the next 6 months as rebates and deals taper off.

Let me elaborate on my vague statement. The Altima, Accord, and Fusion are both only a month or two away from a 2013 refresh yet their sales of current model 2012 are doing very well. Hence, they are not having an issue selling those vs the Malibu struggling to sell in July. The Malibu has sold 153k year to date, they just had a tough July....

looks like chevy shouldn't have jumped the gun on this segment. Customers are NOT liking the limited engine choices at the moment. They should have waited and delivered the new 2013 Malibu with all of the three engines in the beginning. People like to have choices but not restrictions!

Pretty surprised the Altima didn't take the monthly crown with their redesign. First full month and all.
It will be hard for it to do going forward with the model year ending with a many sales events, and the new Accord and Fusion coming shortly......
BD

Dealers are offering 6000 dollars off on 2012's and Rentibu sales still tanked.
Friend of mine was offered 12 thousand dollars off to move 2012 Volt (that had been on the lot for almost 7 month) for close to the same price as a loaded Rentibu so there went one of those sales.
Time for Hertz and the rest of them to step up and buy some more cars.

Comparably equipped, the Passat tends to be more expensive than the main players in the segment. Also it suffers from very poor reliability - a friend of mine took delivery of his loaded VR6 model in September, and by March he had lemoned it and had a new one. The importance of reliability, in a segment dominated by the Camry and Accord, cannot be overstated.

Interesting...Malibu has pretty darn good year-to-date sales, then seems to have trailed-off. And VW wants to be the largest auto maker in the world with those numbers (but they ARE a LOT higher than a year ago)? Any thoughts or explanations? Serious discussion requested here, leave your brand fan-boy jabs off the grid for a bit please.